Long Enough
by catastrophic-art
Summary: Sakura is now a member of Akatsuki; She reflects on her life up to this point, and someone has a feeling that she should open up about it. WOW I suck at summaries! But it's a really good story and you should read it! You know you want to...! DEISAKU


I don't own anything!!!! (I know we all wish we did but, oh well...)  
Please read, review, and enjoy! :D

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Sakura walked down the cold hallways of the hideout. She always wondered why exactly she had to stay at the only hideout that was underground. Sakura sighed as she inhaled the cold, damp air. She thought of why she came here in the first place… and why everything she did up to this point was the most ironic yet seemingly only was it could have turned out. The only reason in her mind that she had was simple:

She had nothing left for her in Konoha.

* * *

_About five years back, the Akatsuki had landed a full on attack of their village. They were after the Nine Tailed Fox Demon – apparently, this was their last chance to get it before the justu that held all of the Bijuu was released. Naruto was still around 17 or so. He tried to go up against Pein, the leader of Akatsuki. Naruto had a near-death experience as eight of his nine tails appeared._

_During that attack, Sakura was in the hospital tending to the uncontrollable flow of bloodied and mangled shinobi. Sakura couldn't stand not being able to say she didn't put up a fight. She asked Shizune to cover her for a moment while she tried to help out in the field. _[Now, Sakura realizes that her past notion was a crazy and self-centered.] _When she saw Naruto had almost fully transformed to the Kyuubi, she knew in her mind that she had to help him. Running to his aid, she desired to be there in their stand to protect Konoha. Pein was too powerful for Naruto, and she watched in horror as the Akatsuki leader took the helpless and unconscious boy away._

_The last thing Naruto did was put on a smile in attempt to tell her that things would be okay._

_Sakura tried to follow them as they were very near their total escape. All of the sudden, with Naruto's lifeless body over his shoulder, Pein was right in front of her. She wasn't expecting it, so she stumbled onto her knees. He looked down at her almost pitifully. _

"_What do you want, kunoichi?" He had asked with a stoic expression. She looked up at his eyes with bewildered expression. They were an odd shade of purple. Also, the pupils of his eyes were ringed._

"_I want my friend back." Sakura said sternly. She was shaky and nervous, but she couldn't show any fear in front of him._

"… _Is that so?" He said after a moment of silence between them. She looked up at him with determination in her eyes. He made a small laugh, and everything went black._

_The next thing she knew, she was in Konoha for serious internal injury and a slight coma. _

_After the ambush, a few weeks went by as the countless searches for Naruto went on. Apparently the Akatsuki had set up a special base for the extraction of the Nine-Tailed Fox so that Konoha couldn't find them. By the fourth week of searching, they had concluded that the Kyuubi was extracted from Naruto and… _

_The truth was too hard to hear. _

_Even after the death of Naruto, her life was a living hell. Left and right, her friends were becoming ANBU – and dying in the process. Kakashi was killed by an Akatsuki member (They had never found out who – there were no traces left for any leads). Yamato and Sai were also killed on an assassination mission in the Village Hidden in the Waves. Sasuke was the last to die. He had been assigned to an ANBU mission up in the Village Hidden in the Rocks, but never came back. (Like Kakashi, there was no trace – it was believed to be the same killer). _

_Sakura couldn't take any more of it. So she decided to leave Konoha._

* * *

She sighed deeply as she slouched against the couch.

"What's wrong now, Pinky?" the familiar voice asked. She looked up at Kisame and rolled her eyes at him.

"It isn't like you would care," she spat at him. The shark's wide and toothy grin was taunting her. Sakura looked down to the floor as she waited for him to leave. Unfortunately, he didn't budge. "You can leave now and still look the same, or you can have a free makeover."

Kisame smirked. "Tch. Still as stubborn as ever, I suppose," He said bluntly. "Would you mind telling me what's bothering you then?"

She glared daggers at him. She'd completely had it with his mockery as he ridiculed her. "How the hell would you know how I feel?! All you do is just torture me to the bone and laugh at my pain!" She yelled. "You and your whole organization couldn't give a shit as to what I feel right now! So why should I even bother to tell you anything?"

Kisame shrugged. "I guess you're right there." He turned for a moment to see Deidara walk up to them.

"What's going on? I heard someone yell," he said calmly.

Kisame's grin got even wider. "Oh, Sakura, you woke Deidara up! That wasn't very polite, now was it?" He snickered. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Kisame, I think you should go," he said firmly. Kisame just turned and walked away.

"Whatever. You two go ahead and talk about your feelings now! " He laughed.

Sakura averted her gaze back to the floor, trying to picture all of her friends from Konoha again. Deidara could see that she was stressed and let out a small sigh. He sat next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, I didn't need your help there." She said in a sour tone. Deidara placed his hand back in his lap.

"… Do you want to talk about it…?" He asked quietly. She looked up at him with slight anger and hurt in her eyes.

"No! I don't need sympathy from you or anyone else! Why can't you just understand that I don't want to talk about it? I don't even _have_ anything to talk about!" Sakura could feel hot tears running down her face. She stood up to leave the room in a storming rampage.

He also stood just as fast and grabbed her by the wrist. "Sakura, I'm just trying to help—"

"Why do you care so much? Can't you just see that I don't need help?!" She screamed at him.

"Why don't you just tell me what's wrong?" He retaliated by raising his voice even more at her.

"Because, Deidara, there _is nothing _wrong!!!" Tears were streaming down her face.

"Well, it sure as hell doesn't help if you just don't say anything at all!!!"

Sakura opened her mouth to react, but closed it. She realized that he was right – she couldn't hold back. She turned to fully face him. She ranked her wrist from his from his grasp and started to pound his chest with her fists. "You don't understand!! You don't know what I've been through!!" She said through sobs. "If you think you sadistic bastards have been through a lot, then you don't even know the first thing about me!" As she went on, her fists were getting tired until she finally quit.

She placed her forehead on Deidara's chest as her breath continued to be staggered and uneven through all of her crying. Deidara looked down as her brought up her arms and wrapped them around her tightly.

"Then help me understand…" He whispered. He took a deep breath and sighed."I want to be there for you, Sakura," he said finally after an eternity of silence.

She looked up at him with red eyes. Her brought up his hand and wiped her tears away from her stained cheeks. Her hands slightly clutched his shirt, now wet from her tears. She took a small step back and tried to wipe her face dry herself. She sniffled and looked up at him again.

Deidara couldn't stand to see her cry anymore. He quickly put his hand behind her neck and brought his lips crashing down on hers. It wasn't a kiss of pure lust – it was a desiring and wanting kiss. The shocking thing was that Sakura didn't deny it. She kissed him back as her hands now were fully clasped onto his shirt. He pulled her even closer to him.

They both then reluctantly broke the kiss and locked their gazes within one another. They didn't speak for a few moments -- they were lost for words.

"Deidara… How long…?" Sakura started to ask, but Deidara stopped her with a small kiss.

"Long enough." He said with a boyish smirk on his lips.

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Awwww!!! Hahhaha, what did you think? Well, it probably was a bit cliche (Okay, let's be real here, IT WAS SUPER ULTRA MEGA cliche!!!!). But you know, whatever. ;)

This was my first story and I am pretty proud of it too. :) I think it turned out nicely, and I hope you guys liked it too! READ AND REVIEW!!


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